Combination plow and seeder



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet l. J. M. MILLS.

COMBINATION PLOW AND SEEDER.

No. 582,870. Patented May 18 l v'neo oeo I I 7 (liken/M11 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

'JOHN M. MILLS, OF MARTHAVILLE, LOUISIANA.

COMBINATION PLOW AND SEEDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 582,870, dated May 18, 1897.

Application filed February 4,1897. Serial No. 621,929. No model.)

T0 at whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN M. MILLS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Marthaville, Natchitoches parish, State of Louisiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Combination-Plows, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in cultivators; and it consists, substantially, in such features of construction, arrangement, and combinations of parts as will hereinafter be more particularly described.

The object of the invention is the provision of means for adapting the cultivator to many of the purposes or uses in the cultivation of land which have heretofore required or demanded the use of separate or independent implements.

A further object is the facility with which the several specific elements or devices of my invention are each attached and removed, and also the ease and readiness with which the said elements or devices are interchanged, adjusted, and manipulated.

Further objects of the invention will more fully hereinafter appear when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is aside view of a cultivator constructed and arranged in accordance with my invention, the said view indicating some of the specific interchangeable elements in position for use. Fig. 2 is a top plan view. Fig. 3 is a front elevation with parts removed to more clearly indicate the general construction and disposition of some of the parts. Figs. 4., 5, and 6 are detail views of certain parts which will be referred to hereinafter.

My invention embodies the combination of a number of different agricultural implements, which are removable or detachable and which are interchangeable and capable either of being used together or separately, according to the particular requirements.

Each of the implements or devices herein employed is easily recognized under the specific term or title given thereto in the following description, and as a generic term to include them all I use the generally-accepted one cultivator, by which to avoid confusion.

ing passing through the said beam.

departing from the spirit of my invention.

In the accompanying drawings, 1 designates the draft-beam of my improved cultivator, and 2 the cross or transverse beam thereof. Each of said beams may be of any suitable construction, but preferably the draft-beam l is of proper length and square or rectangular in cross-section. At its forward end the said beam is provided with a suitable clevis 3 for the attachment of either a single or double tree, (not shown,) to which the draft animal or animals may be hitched in the usual or ordinary manner. Said clevis is hinged or linked to the under side of the beam and is bent or turned up over the end of the beam, as shown, and the upper end of the same embraces or fits around a plug or catch 4, removably inserted in a vertical open- For convenience I construct the said plug or catch in the form of a wrench having spanning portions a for nuts and the like, and whenever nuts or other parts of my invention need to be tightened or loosened the said wrench is always at hand for the purpose, and which while not being used is performing the function of a catch, as explained. The said draftbeam 1 is, moreover, cut out vertically at 5 and 6 to receive square or rectangular boxes 7 and 8, respectively, and each of the said boxes is provided with a circular opening passing through the same vertically, by which they are adapted to receive a removable sleeve such, for instance, as 10-having a square or rectangular opening passing through the same from end to end. The cross-beam 2 could also be constructed in dilferent ways, but preferably, and by which to better suit the purposes of my invention, I construct the said cross-beam substantially in the form of a frame which comprises an upper section 0 and a lower section d, the two being substantially counterparts and being connected at the ends by means of bolts 12 and nuts 13,

which hold the said sections apart a distance about equal to the vertical thickness of the draft-beam 1, the rear end of which draftbeam passes through and slightly beyond the two said sections of frame. The connection between the two beams is a movable one to a certain extent, and it is effected in the present instance by means of a sleeve or tube 10, having a rectangular opening or here and provided at its upper end with a head-flange 15, resting upon the upper surface 16 of the solid central portion 17 of the upper frame-section c of the cross-beam when the said tube is in place. This tube passes through corresponding openings in the upper and lower frameseetions of the cross-beam, and, as shown, it is also passed through the box 8 at near the end of the draft-beam 1. The cross-beam is thus permitted to have a horizontal movement relative to the d raft-beam, or vice versa, when required, but for the purpose of maintaining the desired relation between the two while the cultivator is in use I employ upper and lower segments 18 and 19, which are fastened at the ends to one of the bolts at each end of the cross-beam and at an intermediate point to pins on the upper and lower sides of the draft-beam. By this means the crossbeam may be turned to any desired position and seen red in place in an obvious manner.

Mounted in the cross-beam, between the upper and lower frame portions thereof and on either side of the draft-beam, is a tool or implement holder 20, capable of being moved or adjusted lengthwise of the cross-beam to a limited extent, so as to vary the distance apart the cultivating tools or implements may enter or operate upon the ground. These holders are each provided with a removable sleeve 21, having a square or rectangular bore to receive the shanks of the implements, as will appear, and said sleeves may be adjusted both vertically and radially, and they are held in their positions by means of setscrews 22 or other suitable means. The sleeves are preferably formed with enlarged upper ends 23, forming heads, as it were, to prevent them from being forced too far through the openings formed in the toolholder for their reception, and said sleeves are, moreover, provided in the sides of such projecting enlarged ends 23 with set-screws 2-lforsecuring the implements in place. The said holders could be adjusted in the crossbeam in many different ways, but as a convenient way I construct the same at their upper and lower ends to fit in the open portions 25 of the frames of the cross-beam, and I extend or project the sides thereof outward at front and rear, as at 26, to rest upon the lower frame (Z, as well as to partially receive and support the upper frame 0, as seen at 28, and I notch or serrate the frame at 29 and similarly notch or serrate the corresponding sides of the holders at 30. These notches 29 and 30 engage each other, and the holders are thus held in place when the nuts and bolts at the ends of the cross-beam are tightened up. To move or adjust said holders, the nuts 13 are loosened slightly for the purpose and then again tightened after the adjustment has been effected.-

The handles of the cultivator are designated at 31, and they are removably attached at their forward ends to the draft -beam by means of a bolt 32, passing through the beam and through the handles and secured by a nut Said handles extend upward and rearward, and they are supported by means of braces 3i, removably mounted upon the draft-beam l at the rear end thereof. As thus arranged and constructed I am enabled to employ a number of specific agricultural implements at the same timesuch,for instance, as one or more plow-points to plow up the earth in parallel lines or furrows, a seeder, a colter, a harrow-tooth, (to. These may be changed about in such a way as to obtain various results simultaneously, and inasmuch as it would require too many figures of drawings to illustrate the Variety of different arrangements and combinations which could be made up out of my invention I will simply refer, by way of example, to the arrangement which I have elected to illustrate in the drawings. Thus passing upward through the opening in box 7 in the draft-beam 1 is the hollow stem of a seeder 36, (see detail View Fig. 4-,) consisting of a wheel 37, having in its periphery seed-pockets 38, which communicate with the opening in the stem 35 and receive or become filled with seed from the hopper 39 as the said Wheel is revolved. The wheel is held between the cheek portions of a hollow stock 40, which extends down and is sharpened somewhat and is provided at its lower end or extremity 41 with a plow-point 42. The axle of said wheel is provided at one end with a toothed wheel 43, and this wheel connects by means of a belt or chain 454: with another similar wheel 45, carried on the end of the axle of a wheel 46, mounted in the lower end of a fork 47, the stem or shank of which passes up into the opening in sleeve 10 and is secured in place by means of a set-screw. By this arrangement motion is imparted to the seeder-wheel in an obvious manner, and as the Wheel turns the seed will drop into the furrow made by the point 42.

In the openings of the sleeve contained in the tool or implement holders I may insert any suitable form of implementsuch, for instance, as a harrow-tooth, as shown in detail in Fig. 5, or a simple plow-point, as shown in detail in Fig. 6. As a convenient way of illustratin g without undue multiplicity I have shown the said tool-holders as provided with plow-points 4:2 the shanks or stems of which pass up through the openings in sleeves 21. and are secured in place by the set-screws 24. It is evident that by turning the sleeves 21 in the holders the plow-points 42 or whatever the kind of implement used may be made to strike the ground at any desired angle.

If desired, I may remove or detach the handles from the cultivator and mount a suitable seat in 'any convenient position upon the draft-beam, but as this is a perfectly obvious expedient I have not considered it necessary to illustrate the same herein.

Without limiting myself to the precise de: tails of construction shown and described, what I claim is 1. In a cultivator, the combination of a draft-beam, a cross-beam, a sleeve connecting said draft-beam and cross-beam, adjustable connections between the two beams, a seeder device supported by the draft-beam, means for operating the seeder device, and tool or implement holders adjustably supported on the cross-beam, substantially as described.

2. In a cultivator, the combination of a draft-beam having vertical passages or openings therein, a cross-beam, a sleeve connecting said draft and cross beams, a seeder device having a tubular neck passing through an opening in the draft-beam, and provided with a toothed Wheel, awheel or roller mounted in a sleeve passing through the connecting-sleeve and adjustably held in position, and also carrying a toothed wheel, a chain connecting said toothed wheels, and adjustable tool or implement holders mounted in said cross-beam, substantially as described.

3. In a cultivator, the combination of a draft-beam having vertical passages or openings therein, a cross-beam, a sleeve connecting said draft and cross beams, segments uniting the two beams also, a seeder device supported by the draft-beam and having a toothed operating-wheel, a wheel or roller mounted to the rear of said seeder and also having a toothed wheel, and a chain connecting the two said toothed wheels, substantially as described.

4:. In a cultivator, the combination of a draft-beam, a cross-beam, a sleeve connecting said draft and cross beams, segments uniting the-two beams adjustably, a seeder device supported by the draft-beam and having a toothed operating-wheel, a wheel or roller mounted to the rear of said seeder and also having a toothed wheel, and a chain connecting the said toothed wheels, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

J. P. SKINNER, G. L. WILLIAMs. 

